Komatsu the world’s No. 2 supplier of construction equipment says the commodities price rebound has yet to feed better sales.
It said demand from miners fell 13% in the last quarter, reporting lower earnings Tuesday for the third quarter through December, with net income down a fifth on the year to 30.8 billion yen ($271 million) and revenue slipping 10% to 430.6 billion yen, according to a statement.
“We stick to our earlier view that the timing of a recovery will come” in the next fiscal year or after, Yasuhiro Inagaki, senior executive officer, said on a conference call, referring to the mining equipment market.
Komatsu follows industry leader Caterpillar and smaller Japanese rival Hitachi Construction Machinery in reporting lackluster demand from the mining industry, which saw a rebound in raw materials prices in 2016.
Brad Halverson, Caterpillar’s chief finance officer, said last week he’s not ready to call a recovery in 2017 due to the abundance of used equipment, although the company said mining-related sales may have bottomed.
